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Chris Campanelli & the Dusty Jackets

Beyond the Word

Cemetery Song

Although some songs eked out through the high school and early college
days, Chris Campanelli didn’t really get going with songwriting until
late 2007. Finishing college in Charlottesville and stepping
out into a wider world, he had no idea what to do other than to listen to
a great deal of music, and begin to write songs from that energized and aimless
state.

A few years and a few songs later, Chris Campanelli joined up with
Jared Buchanan, Harrison Jones and Mark James, who later took
on the name of The Dusty Jackets. Their sound is certainly rooted
in the fingerpicking-balladeering-songs-of-love-and-heartbreak from the American
folk tradition, at least as it runs from the Mississippi bluesmen
up through Bob Dylan and on through indie-folk songwriters today. But it
also has fused with some rock elements, and other eclectic sounds as well.

What
does this actually sound like? Perhaps you’ll have to take a
listen for yourself. But it’s worth stating that, having grown up in
northern Virginia, folk music was hardly a natural expression
for Chris. Instead, this music is much more the result of a long and relentless
search to find something in his soul that sounds like life. And the Dusty
Jackets are the trusted men who have lent their hands (and ears) to this
endeavor.